I Need You
by love-the-lamb
Summary: Senior year at WMHS has just begun but everyone is talking about what happened to Quinn over the summer. It has left Quinn shaken up, put Rachel in a very serious condition and Puck is the only one who seems to understand. What did happen over the summer? Only one person knows the whole story.
1. Chapter 1

It was the first day back after summer break and the William McKinley High School parking lot was gradually filling up. The first cars to turn in where those of the cheerleaders who were eager to be there for the first practice so Coach Sue wouldn't cut them in the new academic year. Then came the faculty members, most of whom looked as if they would rather be anywhere than the school campus and finally came the rest of the student body who brought with them the chatter and laughter of being reunited after three months of freedom.

Quinn Fabray's car was among the last to pull in and, as it did, those milling around in the parking lot automatically turned to look at Quinn. Everyone had heard bits and pieces about what had occurred over the summer with Quinn but no-one knew the whole story and the students and William McKinley High School were always desperate to find out more, especially when it came to Quinn Fabray.

After she had found a parking space, Quinn looked in the interior mirror and tried to focus herself. _Just get through today and then everything will be fine,_ she told herself though she didn't believe it for a second. Even her thoughts felt shaky and she was terrified about her voice shaking when she had to speak to someone. She combed through her blonde hair with her fingers one last time and stepped out of the car. As she did, the breeze hit her bare arms instantly causing her to shiver. She had forgotten to bring a jacket with her today; she was so used to wearing her Cheerios jacket every day that she hadn't thought to bring a substitute with her. The year – Quinn's senior year – she was not sporting the iconic Cheerios uniform; she was looking for a fresh start free from Coach Sue and the pressures of being at the top of the social pyramid. She just hoped everyone would leave her alone and let her be.

Quinn began her walk to her first class in the hopes she would not meet anyone on the way. She had no such luck, however, as just five steps down the corridor she was met with the face of Noah Puckerman. "Quinn, hey," he said as he fell into step with her.

"Hi," she replied. Her hand went up to touch her throat in surprise; her voice sounded normal. It sounded almost happy. This caused a smile to play at the edges of her mouth, maybe today wouldn't be so hard after all. She looked at Puck and noticed he was watching her with a smile on his face.

"You look good, Quinn. Are you good?" Quinn let the smile linger on her mouth a little longer. Puck understood what she was going through. She could feel his concern and acceptance without him having to do anything and this made her feel so much better already. She looked at his face and wondered what was going through _his _head after everything that had happened. She wondered if he woke up every night after having the same dream over and over again. She wondered if he panicked every time he had to walk past the place where it all happened or if he broke down every time he had to see the face of the other person.

Quinn quickly snapped out of the thoughts and memories that were beginning to overwhelm her mind like they did day after day. She focused back on Puck's face and answered him. "I'm fine." She didn't mean to say it in such a monotone voice but she was afraid she was going to blurt out everything she had been thinking.

"That's good. You know you can talk to me if you want, right?"

"Thanks, Puck," she replied, feeling the warm glow of the smile lingering at her lips again.

"Anything for my baby momma," he joked as he began to walk away to his locker. "See you later, Q!" he called to her, walking backwards so he could give her one last smile.

Quinn was feeling relieved. She was five minutes into her day and things were going fine. Better than fine, things were going great. Maybe she wasn't as affected by everything as she thought she was. She let that thought murmur away at the back of her mind but wouldn't let it get any more prominent; she didn't want to get overconfident for it to backfire in her face. Feeling a little more confident than she had before her encounter with Puck, Quinn walked into her English class to be greeted by an empty class. She sighed a small sigh of relief at the comfort of being able to choose the seat in the very back as to be as invisible as possible. There was a time when Quinn could walk into class as late as she liked and still be guaranteed any seat she wanted simply by using her death glare but that Quinn was no more.

Once Quinn was seated, she heard the chatter of a few girls coming towards the classroom door. "Oh my God, I heard that she's, like, never going to wake up," one of them said, "how crazy is th-" They all stopped in their tracks when they saw Quinn sat in the room and the girl stopped talking instantly. All three of them tried to look anywhere but the blonde figure at the back of the room and they all took their seats before turning the conversation towards some party at the weekend.

Nearly everyone who entered the room had the same reaction. They all went silent at the sight of her and turned their conversations away from the hot topic of the day which was clearly about Quinn and the others' happenings during the summer. No-one made eye contact with Quinn or attempted to make conversation with her for the whole hour which she was mostly grateful for. During class, Quinn tried to make detailed notes but her mind kept wandering. She didn't want it to but lately she had been unable to control her thoughts. She wished Puck was there; he would know how to keep her focused.

She only encountered a problem at the end of the lesson. A girl who she recognized from AP Biology last year approached her carrying a small bunch of flowers. She held them out to Quinn, "I heard what happened, and these are for you."

Quinn just stared at this stranger and tried to inhale slowly through her nose and gently exhale. _Who was this girl – a girl she had never spoken to – to bring me flowers? _

"I don't need your flowers," she said with as much restraint as she could and she walked off. With second thought, Quinn muttered a small "thanks" as she left. In her heart she knew the girl was only trying to be nice but the whole encounter was triggering a whole lot of things she wasn't prepared for. She felt a sudden urge to leave the campus immediately and her pace quickened. As she rushed down the corridor she heard Puck calling after her so she slowed down and turned around for him because he was the only thing in her life right now that didn't make her feel like shit.

"Quinn, what's going on?" he asked when he reached her. "Why are you going so fast? Wait, Quinn, why are you crying?" Puck looked at her with concern in his eyes and grabbed her shoulders.

She hadn't even realized she was crying until now. She wiped the tears with the back of her hand. "I'm okay. I just need to get out of here."

"Oh. Well, do you want me to come with you? We could drive somewhere and hang out?"

Quinn shook her head. "No, I think I want to be by myself for now. But thanks," she said as she gave him a delicate smile.

"If you're sure?" he checked with her. She nodded and began to turn away before he called her back. "Come here," he said and he opened his arms to her. She stepped into his embrace and let her head rest on his shoulder for just a moment. The hug felt good and Quinn had to force herself to step out of the caring arms of Puck. As she did, she gave him another smile before walking away.

Once in the parking lot, Quinn jumped into her car and put it into drive. She kept to the speed limit religiously for the whole fifteen minute drive to Lima Memorial Hospital.

Quinn knew exactly which way to go when she arrived at the hospital; she was a frequent visitor now. In the elevator, she pushed the button for floor three. She traced the letters on the label next to the button; _Intensive Care Unit_.

One of the nurses she had come to know greeted her as she passed the nurses station and she smiled back at them. She then rounded the corner into the hospital room she had become so familiar with. Quinn looked at the small figure lying in the bed and disappointment fell upon her when she noticed that nothing had changed even though she knew she would have heard if there had been any improvement. Sitting down in the chair next to the bed, Quinn put the patient's hand in her own and stroked it, careful not to disturb any of the endless wires. "I'm back," she said. Quinn was unsure whether she was being heard or not but she always talked when she came to visit.

"So school started back today. I wish you could have been there. And I know they are going to really miss you at glee club. Just like I miss you," Quinn tried to breathe slowly like she had been taught to calm herself down. "Please wake up. I _need _to you wake up now. Please." By now, Quinn's tears were flowing down her face.

Through her blurring vision, Quinn looked into the face of Rachel Berry. "Please, Rachel. I won't be able to live with myself if you don't wake up."


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you to everyone who read the first chapter and added it to their favorites etc. And thank you for all the reviews; I really love hearing what you think. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter :) **

"Tell me what happened that day." Quinn stared at the rain pounding against the windows as she tried to figure out a way to get around Dr. Marshall's question.

"I don't know," Quinn replied, still staring at the window. The sound of Ohio's weather filled the silence around her statement and Quinn wondered how much of her fifty minutes had gone by. She felt like she had been sat on this couch for eternity.

"Yes you do," Dr. Marshall said. "I need you to talk to me, Quinn. The doctors and your mother thought you needed to be here so there is clearly a reason you're sat in this room with me."

Quinn snapped her head around I looked straight at the doctor. "My mother is not a reliable source for what I need. She kicked me out when I was sixteen; I think that says it all."

Dr. Marshall didn't miss a beat. "The doctors, then."

"They don't know anything either. Just like you don't know anything about me or what I need." Quinn caught a glimpse of Dr. Marshall's watch and whilst standing up said, "In fact, what I need right now is to get to school."

"I didn't think you cared too much about school considering you skipped out after first period yesterday," she challenged. Quinn didn't even want to think about how she could possibly know that piece of information. "Do you want to tell me why you did that?"

"No I don't," Quinn said, just staring at the woman.

"Or how about why you went to visit Rachel yesterday, again?" Dr. Marshall tilted her head and looked right at Quinn.

Quinn went to pick up her school bag from the floor. "I thought shrinks were supposed to be nice," she whispered mostly to herself.

"Not in the job description, Quinn. I'm just trying to help you," Dr. Marshall called as Quinn walked out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

Once outside that god-awful room, Quinn just stood in the hallway for a full minute wondering how she ever got into this situation. She couldn't believe she was being made to go to these therapist sessions when there was nothing wrong with her. _People should be trying to help Rachel instead of her; she's the one in the coma!_

Because there were two doors to Dr. Marshall's office to protect the identity of the clients, Quinn wasn't entirely sure which way to go to get out of the building. She decided to walk left and see where she ended up. As she rounded a corner in the corridor she saw a man with his phone glued to his face walking towards her. He seemed to be having a heated conversation with the recipient on the other end of the phone.

"How much cash do you need?" the man said as the two passed each other in the corridor. Quinn suddenly stopped walking when she heard what he said. The memories of _that day_ came flooding over her in an instant.

"_How much cash do you _need_?" Puck had said to Quinn whilst she was drawing out cash in the bank._ _Quinn had ignored his sarcastic comment and continued punching in her pin number. When she was done, she noticed that Puck was staring at Rachel who was reading a magazine on the other side of the bank. "What's your angle with Berry, anyway?" he asked, still watching the girl who was sat with incredibly straight posture._

"_What do you mean?" Quinn replied whilst absentmindedly stuffing her notes into her purse._

"_Why are you being so friendly with her all of a sudden? All summer you've been loved up on Berry. You've got to have an agenda here."_

"_She just needs a friend. Ever since Finn ended it with her at the end of the school year she's been a bit broken. Besides, I like her. She's a good friend."_

"_Well, do you like me?" Puck asked her, jokingly puckering up his lips._

_Quinn replied in an instant. "No," she joked with a smile on her face. _

_Puck pretended to look hurt and put his hand on his chest. "You have deeply offended me."_

"_Oh, shut up," Quinn replied, still smiling. By now, they were approaching Rachel who was still flipping through the magazine. Rachel heard them approach and she looked up at them. "Ready to go?" Quinn enquired. _

_Just as she was standing up, the door to the bank slammed open causing the bell to jingle and a loud crash to occur as the door banged into the wall. The hustle of the room turned to stare at the entrance. _

Quinn snapped out of her reverie when a woman walked past and asked if she was okay. "Fine," Quinn replied, trying to physically shake the memories out her head. She breathed deeply and continued walking through the building and out into the parking lot.

* * *

During lunch hour later on that day, Quinn found herself stood with her lunch tray staring at all the cafeteria tables. She wasn't sure where she should sit. Her old table where the Cheerios sat was completely out the question – she was not one of them anymore. She saw most of the glee club sat together on one table but she didn't know whether she was welcome there or not. She really hadn't talked to any of them over the summer, with the exception of Puck and Rachel of course, and she didn't attend the glee club meeting yesterday either. As far as they knew, she was out of New Directions completely. But Quinn didn't want that because she really did enjoy going to glee.

Suddenly, Quinn panicked. How much did the glee club members know about what happened in the summer? Did they blame her for the outcome? Quinn did not think she could deal with the rejection of the glee club as well as everyone else. They were the only ones who were there when she needed it most. She looked over at them on their table. They looked happy and she could see them chatting and laughing but she noticed there wasn't the usual spark between them and she knew it was due to the absence of Rachel. She then looked at Finn's face and her heart dropped. He looked so upset and if it wasn't for Quinn, Rachel would probably be sat round that table and the glee club would be their usual selves and Finn wouldn't look so crushed.

Out of nowhere she felt a hand on the small of her back. She looked around to see Puck stood by her. "Come on, let's go this way," he said, taking her tray in his free hand and leading her out through the cafeteria doors. She let him lead her to a table out in the quad where they sat across from each other and he placed her tray in front of her.

"Aren't you going to eat anything?" she asked when he made no move to get any lunch. She told him no, he wasn't hungry. Quinn pushed her tray towards him and offered him some of hers anyway and he obliged. They ate in silence for a few minutes while the hustle and bustle of the school body surrounded them.

"Did you go to glee club yesterday?" Quinn asked Puck. She was very intrigued to know what she missed and if anyone had said anything about her.

He nodded his head whilst mid-bite of a carrot stick. "You went to visit Rachel instead, right?" he guessed.

"Yes. There was no change," she paused and delicately looked up from her salad. "I'm kind of nervous about going to glee club today. What if they hate me?"

"Why would they hate you, Q?" Puck looked confused but concerned at the same time.

Quinn shook her head. "Don't worry about it, it's stupid." But Quinn knew there was reason for them to hate her but she couldn't say it out loud, it would make the whole thing seem more real. Puck reached over to touch her hand out of instinct and she flinched slightly, not expecting it. They looked at each other for a moment before Quinn abruptly stood up, almost knocking her drink off the table. She said she had to go to the library to finish off some history prep before her lesson in the afternoon.

"Wait," Puck said to her. "Are you going to visit Berry after school?" Already knowing Quinn's answer he continued, "Mind if I come?"

"I'd love that," Quinn replied with a smile on her lips.

* * *

Puck had offered to drive to the hospital but Quinn wouldn't let him. He was really wishing she had as the car was moving at an excruciatingly slow speed down the roads. In all fairness, she was sticking to the speed limits like a machine but they'd never cared about things like sticking to the road limits before.

"Mind if we stop at my house on the way? I want to grab something," Puck asked once they had been driving for couple of minutes. Quinn stole a quick look at his face to see if he was purposely trying to make her uncomfortable. He looked completely normal, though. Didn't he know that to drive to Puck's house they had to drive past Rachel's house? And to drive past Rachel's house meant having to see what she really didn't want to see.

"Really?" she checked.

"Yep," he confirmed, smiling and completely unaware. Quinn wondered how he was seemingly unaffected by this whole thing and she wished she was more like him. She was not about to let him see how broken up about this event that to him was clearly a very small occurrence so she carried on driving in the direction of his – and Rachel's – house.

She turned into the road in a very careful manner as she did with her driving all the time now and attempted to keep her eyes locked on the road ahead. Maybe if she kept looking to the end of the road she wouldn't have to see the house as she passed.

However, no matter how much she tried to control her eyes from straying, they disobeyed her desperate orders and they quickly glanced to the left as soon as they were passing the house in question.

Quinn drew in a sharp breath when she saw it. The car. Rachel's formerly perfect car was completely wrecked. The front windshield was completely gone, the entire left side of the vehicle was crushed in and the driver's door was non-existent. The roof of the car was even crushed inwards. Quinn knew it was going to be bad but seeing this was worse than anything she had expected. It wasn't even in the shape of a car anymore. Hiram, Rachel's dad, had told her that the garage wanted to scrap it but they had kept it anyway. Quinn could think of no reason why.

She slowed down the car and pulled to a stop and lowered her head onto the steering wheel, counted to ten, sat up and continued to drive to Puck's house.

Puck looked at her. "You okay?" he asked her.

"I'm fine." On second thought, she looked at him out of the corner of her eye and asked _him_ a question. "Why are you so okay about this?"

"I'm not," he said, staring right at her.


	3. Chapter 3

**So, here's the next chapter. Sorry it's been a bit of a wait. Thanks for all the reviews, do keep them coming - I really appreciate your comments or ideas.**

It had almost been a week since school had restarted after summer break and Quinn was feeling more defeated than ever about the state of her friend lying in the hospital bed next to her. When Rachel first slipped into her coma, Quinn had placed bets with herself; _she'll wake up tomorrow, _then;_ she'll be awake by the time school starts, _and now; _she'll wake up. Period. _

The truth was that Quinn didn't know whether she believed these things that she told herself or not. Part of her looked at the evidence staring her in the face and knew in her heart that she had no hope. Whenever that thought found its way into the forefronts of Quinn's mind, however, she pushed it away. The other part of her was blinded by the optimism she had learnt from Rachel herself. Rachel _would _wake up and that was what she told herself until she could think of nothing else.

With Rachel's hand in her own, as it always was when she came to visit, Quinn looked at her sleeping face. "Rachel," she said, determination lining her voice, "I was doing some research last night to see if I could help fix this. I know the doctors are doing everything and I'm sure they know exactly what they are doing but I'm getting desperate here. Anyway, I read an article that said that the patient has to _choose _live if they are going to survive. They can't give up. So Rachel, I need you to choose life. I know that Finn broke your heart and maybe you weren't in the best place before all of this," Quinn gestured to all the medical equipment occupying the room, "happened but you have so much to live for. Your Dads love you – they come here to see you all the time, the glee club is here for you… And I am here for you. So, please choose life now. We've tried everything else and now we need you to do this. Please wake up."

She looked back to Rachel's face, hopeful, but nothing had changed. Quinn instantly felt stupid for thinking anything would have. She sighed, defeated. The only sound that filled the room was the regular _beep_ of the heart monitor and the gentle but synthetic sound of the machines breathing as a substitute for Rachel.

The sound of someone entering the room made Quinn snap out of her thoughts and turn to look at who it was. Hiram and LeRoy, Rachel's dads, entered the room. "Hey, Quinn," Hiram said as he walked towards the blonde and put a hand on her shoulder. "How are you doing today?"

"I'm okay, thank you," Quinn replied, thinking about how grateful she was to have gotten to know Rachel's parents better during all of the events that had passed. They had so kindly taken Quinn under their wing despite everything they were going through.

"And how is our Shining Star today?" LeRoy asked as he walked over to take the hand of Rachel's that wasn't already grasped by Quinn.

"She's good too," Quinn replied looking into her friend's face. "Well, she's as good as she was yesterday I supposed," she continued, sighing.

"I think what Rachel really needs right now," Hiram began, "is a sing-a-long. Who's up for it, hey?" he said, looking expectantly around the room. "You can't go wrong with a Streisand rendition, right?" he added with a smile on his face, only slightly joking.

This put a smile on Quinn's face. "You know I'd love to but I really need to get to school."

Hiram laughed, "I'll let you off this time Quinn but only this once!"

Quinn smiled back at him and laughed at the joking around. Once she had put her jacket on she made her way towards the door. "It was nice seeing you again," she said to them both. "You'll –uh- call me if anything changes?"

"Of course, we'll let you know as soon as she wakes up."

* * *

On the drive from the hospital to school, Quinn's cellphone began to vibrate. She urged herself to ignore it; she had to concentrate on her driving. As she approached the strip of highway that she had to drive on to get to school she noticed there was a sign blocking the entrance and as she drew closer she realized the highway was under emergency construction. "Damn it," she muttered to herself, hitting the steering wheel. She was already running a bit late and this detour was going to cost her even more time. She decided to pull her car to a stop and check her phone before it decided to persistently remind her again and again that she had a message and, as a result, distract her from her driving.

_I'll be out late tonight. Lasagna in the fridge. Mom. _

This text didn't surprise Quinn. Judy was often leaving her daughter alone in the house and Quinn couldn't say she was particularly cut up about her mother's constant absence. Wherever Judy happened to be – whether it be on a Christian wine tasting boat or at a boules tournament – it meant they could have some time apart which was only good when it came to Quinn and Judy's relationship.

Putting her phone down, after putting it on silent, Quinn turned her car around and took the first left so she could drive on the back roads to school. She drove in silence for a few minutes on the relatively empty road. When the sound of her own thoughts piercing the quiet became too much for her, Quinn reached to turn on the radio. She looked away from the long stretch of road ahead of her for just a second and when she looked back up she was heading directly for a lone rabbit sat in the center of the street. She watched in slow motion the eyes of the rabbit widen in terror as it sat rooted to the ground. Quinn slammed on the breaks with lightening reactions as she was snapped back to regular time. The rabbit found in itself the ability to jump out of the way of the car just milliseconds before it was hit and Quinn breathed a sigh of relief as she observed it scurry off into the trees.

As Quinn sat in the aftermath of a normally very small event, she tried to slow her breathing. She kept telling herself that it was nothing but the sound of the screeching tyres just moments before were bring back haunting memories of _that day._

Before she really knew what her body was doing, Quinn found herself climbing out of her car and following the path the rabbit took. She searched for nearly a half hour for the rabbit. She didn't know why she was looking for it. She was pretty sure she had not harmed it and it wasn't like the rabbit was going to come running back to its almost-murderer but she just felt like she _had _to find it. Not surprisingly, she did not find the rabbit and she begrudgingly made her way out of the tree cover and back to her car which she had left in the middle of the road. With wet leaves and squidgy mud (a gift from the classic Ohio weather) covering her shoes, she climbed back into her car. Quinn purposefully tried not to think about the fact that she just spent half an hour wandering around the forest looking for a rabbit. _A rabbit, for God's sake._ If she thought about it then she'd have to admit to herself that she was making some questionable choices and maybe that she wasn't coping as well as she thought.

* * *

Quinn finally made it to school. By now it was second period; Spanish with Mr. Schue. She walked into the class with the weight of the new day already pressing down on her shoulders. The students were working in silence and Will was sat at his desk marking papers. "Quinn, you're late," Mr. Schue said as soon as he saw her walk through the door.

"Sorry, the highway was blocked off," she nonchalantly replied and she walked away from Will's desk to her seat at the back of the room.

"Miss Fabray! I'm not done."

Quinn swung herself back around to look at him and raised an eyebrow.

"You're late," he repeated.

"Yeah, I told you that the highway was blocked," she said again whilst looking at him incredulously.

"Detention," Will stated. He stared at her as he said it and then went back to marking the work on his desk.

Painfully aware that the whole class was watching and hearing this whole thing from behind her, she took a step forward. "You're serious?" she asked.

"Yes." Will did not even look up from his work.

"But why?! I didn't do anything; the highway was blocked off!" When she didn't get a response she decided to continue speaking. "Mr. Schue, I have somewhere I really need to be after school. Please can you make an exception?"

"No I cannot because rules are there for everyone and that includes you. Now, please sit down and get on with your translating your verbs. I will see you in here after school."

Quinn let out a big sigh of disbelief and sat down in her seat all the while trying to ignore the eyes of her classmates following her every move. As she pretended to do her work she thought about what had just happened. She had thought that Mr. Schue, off all teachers, would let her off. She just couldn't understand why he was being so hard on her.

Quinn grabbed her books and bag as soon as the bell rang and she instantly swept out of the room. Every day at school was nearly exactly the same since the beginning of the semester a week ago and today was no different. For nighty percent of the time she would her walk in and out of all her lessons without having a social encounter with anyone. Breaks between lessons and her free periods were spent 'studying' in the library. The only times when she really spent any time with anyone was lunch with Puck, which seemed to be becoming a daily occurrence, or when she would catch him in the corridor between classes.

As she exited Spanish class, Puck was leant against the wall next to the classroom door waiting for her. "I didn't see you this morning?"

"The highway was blocked off." Quinn wondered how many times she would have to repeat that excuse today.

"Yeah, I know," Puck began, "I drive that way. I still made it on time though."

"Well… there was a rabbit," Quinn inwardly kicked herself. Why was she telling him this?

"A rabbit?" Puck mused on that for a moment. "You didn't, like, kill it did you?"

"No I didn't kill it!" she replied, gently hitting him on the arm. "It was a just a rabbit, okay?"

Puck decided to let it go. "Okay, a rabbit. That's cool."

The two were making their way towards Puck's locker. Quinn listened as Puck changed the subject to the video game he was playing the night before and she attempted to appear interested. "So anyway," he was saying as Quinn zoned into the conversation, "it was totally stupid because I got vaporized on level six."

She smiled and nodded at him in response. It was all the encouragement he needed before delving into the next stage of his description as he threw books into his locker. Suddenly, Finn appeared out of nowhere and joined them.

"No way! You died on level six? Dude, even I can do better than that," Finn contributed. Puck told him to shut up and Finn gave him one of his gloating smirks.

Finn then turned his attention to Quinn. "Hey you," he said, "I haven't seen you in a while. How are you?"

"I'm good. How are you?" Quinn smiled at him.

"I'm good too." Finn paused. "I was wondering if you were going to come to glee today? We all really miss you…" Quinn was surprised by how genuine Finn seemed when he said that. She had been convinced that him – and the entire glee club – never wanted to speak to her ever again seeing as the whole Rachel thing was basically entirely her fault. Even though she was touched by Finn reaching out her and inviting her to glee club, Quinn still felt nervous about going back into the choir room and having to look all of them in the eye.

"Maybe some other time," she said, "But, uh, thanks."

Finn gently touched her arm for a second. "Cool. See you soon," he said and walked away.

Quinn just stared into the distance for a moment trying to comprehend why he was being so nice to her. Puck broke into her thoughts with the sound of him closing his locker. "You _should _come to glee club you know. If I have to endure all their stupid comments for an hour after school, so should you," he joked as they walked down the corridor together to Quinn's next class.

"I don't want to yet," she said whilst looking down at the floor. She then looked up at him. "Besides, I can't go because I've got detention after school."

"Detention, eh? What you do?"

"It was the rabbit," she said, smiling.

"Oh, I see. That damn rabbit." Puck laughed. They had reached the door of Quinn's next class. "See you at lunch?" he asked. She nodded and went to face another hour of isolation.

* * *

It was the end of the day and Quinn was sat alone in the Spanish classroom for detention. Mr. Schue, or any other teacher for that matter, had not come yet but Quinn figured she'd stay and wait to see if he turned up rather than leaving and risk experiencing yet more wrath from Will. The regular _tick tock_ sound of the clock filled the room and Quinn watched every second pass, willing the minutes to quicken. When she had been staring at the clock for ten straight minutes, Will walked into the room in an entirely different mood than he had been before.

"Hi, Quinn," he said, his voice pleasant. He went to his desk to pick up a folder and then went to leave the room again. Telling her to follow him, he left. Quinn picked up her bag and swung it on to her shoulder.

"Where are we going?" As soon as she said it, Quinn knew exactly where they were going. She kicked herself for not working it out sooner. She followed a few paces behind Will and once they had almost reached the door to the choir room her steps slowed. She could hear the laughter of the members of the New Directions filtering out into the corridor. "No…" she said quietly.

"Come on," Will said, waving her closer to the door. She shook her head adamantly and looked right at him. "This is detention so you have to do what I say. Detention happens to be in the choir room today."

When she still didn't move, Will walked towards her. "Come on, Quinn. We've really been missing you in there. The glee club needs you."

"The glee club needs Rachel," she said, looking down at her shoes.

"We need _both_ of you." Quinn looked up at him and he smiled. "Now, are you coming?"

She nodded and wiped away a small tear that was making its way down her cheek and she walked into the choir room. Everyone in the room stopped talked and turned their heads to look at her when they entered. After just a second of silence, Tina stood up and ran over to her with a big grin on her face. "Quinn! You're back!" Quinn found herself embraced in a hug before being led to an empty chair between a seemingly excited Tina and Mercedes. For the first time in a while Quinn felt safe and for once, she felt like she wasn't being judged by everyone. She looked to her left and saw Puck smiling at her. He gave her a quick wink and she smiled back and then she left the smile lingering on her mouth for a few moments because being back in the choir room felt good. Even if there was one thing missing.

Part way through the hour, Mr. Schue left the room for a few moments and some of the guys began talking about their plans for Saturday night. "I got y'all some fake IDs," Puck began, "Let's go to that new club that opened in summer. After Life! That's what it's called."

Quinn knew exactly which club he was talking about. She had been there in the summer with Rachel. Things she had never expected to happen happened that night. As the boys eagerly agreed to Puck's weekend plans, memories of what happened early in the summer came flooding over Quinn.

**There are some important flashbacks coming in the next chapter which might give some answers as to what happened in the summer so hold tight. Thanks for reading!**


End file.
